The University of California, Irvine School of Law announced on Friday that the American Bar Association has granted full accreditation to the school with immediate effect. Dean Erwin Chemerinsky, observed happily in the press release, “I am very proud that the decision by the ABA is at the earliest possible time under the ABA rules.”

Dean Chemrinsky commented, “From the outset, our goal has been to build a top law school that emphasizes preparing students for the practice of law at the highest levels of the profession … The ABA’s decision puts the official seal of approval on the hard work of scores of faculty, administrators, students, and supporters, both on campus and in the legal community. We are so grateful for the generosity and support we have received in building the University of California, Irvine School of Law.”

In nearly half a century, University of California, Irvine School of Law was the first public law school in the state. It created an innovative curriculum that included requirements like mandatory participation in legal clinics for every student; new courses that did not exist in other law schools in the state; emphasizing methods of legal analysis in the first-year, and creating upper-level courses for incorporating skills training in law school courses.

A recent study ranked the Irvine School of Law 7^th in the country for scholarly impact, and to its pride, in 2013, its students completed 10,000 hours of pro bono work. The Orange County Register reported that out of 134 UC Irvine law school graduates who have taken the bar exam in different states since July 2012, 118 have passed. The school graduated another 92 students in the latest batch.

The post UC Irvine School of Law Gets Full Accreditation from ABA first appeared on JDJournal Blog.

Malibu, CA – Harrison Barnes, the founder and principal of Harrison Barnes PLC, is currently involved in a case in front of the Supreme Court of Texas, where the most influential First Amendment scholar in the United States, Erwin Chemerinsky, has assisted our side by submitting an amicus brief.

On February 6, 2014, Erwin Chemerinsky and Professor Lyrissa Barnett Lidsky, experts in First Amendment and Internet law, urged the Supreme Court of Texas to rule in favor of Harrison Barnes in the lawsuit Kinney v. Barnes. Professor Erwin Chemerinsky is the founding Dean and Distinguished Professor of Law, and Raymond Pryke Professor of First Amendment Law, at the University of California, Irvine School of Law. He has frequently argued matters of constitutional law in front of the nation’s highest courts, including a United States Supreme Court decision involving injunctions in defamation cases. In addition, Professor Lidsky has written extensively on issues of Internet free speech, cyberbullying, and defamation and other privacy torts, including the article, Silencing John Doe: Defamation and Discourse in Cyberspace, 49 Duke L.J. 855 (2000), which was referenced by Kinney in his brief to the high court (but note Professor Lidsky submitted an amicus brief in support of Harrison Barnes – not Kinney).

Kinney was an employee of a legal recruiting firm run by Harrison Barnes. Barnes terminated Kinney’s employment because Kinney devised an unethical kickback scheme, attempting to pay a law firm under the table to hire one of his candidates. Several years after his termination for attempting to bribe someone, Kinney posted a variety of statements disparaging Harrison Barnes and his companies. Instead of using his real name, Kinney lied and used the name “Albert” to disguise his identity. After years of investigation and litigation, Barnes was able to learn “Albert” was Kinney. Despite Kinney hiring a well-known attorney to try and keep his identity secret, Kinney’s identity was ultimately ordered released by two separate courts.

Harrison Barnes contended that these statements constituted defamation and subsequently filed suit against Kinney in California state court for “anonymously maligning Barnes and his companies online.” In August of 2007, a publication owned by Harrison Barnes posted a non-defamatory news item on the website JD Journal about the California litigation. This news item reported on the allegations made in the California suit, including the history of the employment relationship between Harrison Barnes and Kinney, Kinney’s termination, Kinney’s establishment of a business designed to compete with Harrison Barnes’ legal recruiting firm, and Kinney’s decision to post maligning comments about Harrison Barnes and his companies on a website.

Claiming that these statements about the California litigation constituted actionable defamation, Kinney responded to the JD Journal posting by filing a lawsuit against Harrison Barnes for defamation seeking injunctive relief. Both the trial court and the court of appeals in Texas have thrown out Kinney’s case on the grounds that even assuming arguendo that Harrison Barnes’ posting on JD Journal was defamatory (which it is not), that the injunction requested by Kinney would violate the Texas Constitution because it would act as a prior restraint on and infringe upon Harrison Barnes’ First Amendment Rights to free speech.

The Texas Supreme Court is expected to rule in Kinney v. Barnes soon, and experts in First Amendment and Internet law have urged the Court to rule in Harrison Barnes’ favor and dismiss Kinney’s defamation lawsuit.

In another related action in California between Kinney and Barnes, the California Court of Appeal for the Second Appellate District dismissed all six of Kinney’s causes of action, including malicious prosecution and misappropriation. The Court, who ruled on June 23, 2014, determined that Kinney’s lawsuit was barred under the statute of limitations and that Barnes and the other Defendants were entitled to an award of attorney’s fees. To read the Court’s ruling in its entirety, click here.

Harrison Barnes PLC attorneys have ample experience in defamation, internet, and First Amendment law, as well as general litigation, employment law, release estate transactions and litigation, bankruptcy, divorce and family law and criminal law. Harrison Barnes PLC will continue to fiercely defend the rights of their clients.

At Harrison Barnes PLC, the attorneys are proud of their work and of their contributions to their clients’ successes. A commitment to serving the client’s needs best while focusing on high quality work has made this law firm among the preferred choice for litigation matters. “Facing a great opportunity or a major crisis, you need to trust the experience, creativity, and dedication we provide. We are proud to be lawyers,” says founder Harrison Barnes.

About Harrison Barnes PLC:

Harrison Barnes PLC is a Malibu-based law firm that focuses on providing top quality representation to the Malibu community and has won millions of dollars for its clients. For a consultation or to learn more about Harrison Barnes PLC, call (310) 598-1719 or visit https://www.harrisonbarnes.com.

The post Erwin Chemerinsky, the Most Influential First Amendment Scholar in the United States, Submits Amicus Brief in Support of Harrison Barnes first appeared on JDJournal Blog.

The ruling occurs two months after the United States government was brought to trial by the gay rights grassroots organization Log Cabin Republicans.  White & Case partner and lead attorney on the case Daniel J. Woods said in a statement, “This is a major victory in the fight for equality and means that military service will be available to all Americans, regardless of their sexual orientation.”

However, United States government lawyers are questioning whether Judge Philips’s ruling will hold true for the rest of the nation.  The government now has the opportunity to nix the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy by repealing it before Congress, and constitutional law expert and dean of the University of California, Irvine School of Law, Erwin Chemerinsky, says, “Given the position of the Obama administration, there’s a great likelihood he will not appeal the ruling.  If it isn’t appealed to the 9th Circuit, it has an excellent chance of standing.”

The post “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” Ruled Unconstitutional in California’s 9th District first appeared on JDJournal Blog.

A spokesman for UC Irvine confirmed to the National Law Journal that it may add a course Lerach is developing called “Regulation of Free Market Capitalism – Why Have We Failed.”  In an interview with the San Diego Union Tribune, Lerach said he hopes teaching the course would count towards the 1,000 hours of community service that is required as part of his sentence. Lerach was released from prison after two years on March 8 following a guilty plea back in 2007 to one count of conspiracy for providing kickbacks to plaintiffs in class action suits.

As for his potential teaching gig, Lerach told the Union-Tribune he expects to “lecture at other law schools” and participate “in the ongoing debate about the need for better and more effective financial regulation and protection for investors.”

Lerach was one of four former partners at Millberg that received prison sentences of between six months and 2 1/2 years for the kickback scheme.

The post UC Irvine Law School Considers Ex-Con For Teaching Gig first appeared on JDJournal Blog.